The City of Cordova has started to work on the 2025 City of Cordova Local Hazard Mitigation Plan update.
Kevin Johnson, Cordova public works director, said the plan is heavily focused on hazards such as tsunamis, landslides and flooding. The plan – which allows the city to be eligible for FEMA funding – can cover post-disaster efforts like clean-up projects, along with pre-disaster mitigation initiatives.
The city needs an updated hazard mitigation plan in order to be in compliance with FEMA, which requires plans to be updated every five years. The last plan was approved by FEMA in 2018.
Although more than five years has passed since the last plan was approved, Johnson said the city didn’t lose its eligibility to receive funding. The city has been on a waiting list to get the plan updated, he said, and it just took some extra time to receive grant funding and be paired with a consultant.
Johnson said the city started working with the consulting firm AECOM last month to make appropriate changes. He said they’re currently in the initial stages of identifying what is still relevant and what needs to change, from the 2018 plan.
“We’re planning on keeping things pretty much the same,” he said. “There’s not going to be any major additions or subtractions from the plan.”
One additional emphasis in the updated plan will be on urban flooding. This would allow the city to potentially receive FEMA funding to upgrade the storm drain system. Johnson said this upgrade would allow the system to better handle torrential rainfall, which is a common occurrence.
“If our current storm drainage collection system isn’t able to handle those capacities, then we have issues like people see often at the post office,” he said. “There’s a storm drain down there that when conditions are just right, creates like a fountain effect, because the system isn’t able to actually discharge the water as fast as it’s receiving it.”
Flooding is a concern among various coastal communities in Alaska as of late. One of the most devastating in the state’s recent history occurred last August in Juneau, after a glacial outburst recorded a record 15.99-foot flood in some parts of the Mendenhall Valley.
Once the initial draft of the updated plan is completed, the city will hold public meetings where Cordova residents can attend and offer their input.
“People can review the plan and see if there’s any gaps that we may be missing,” Johnson said.
While next steps aren’t scheduled out yet, he emphasized the importance of hearing from residents during these meetings.
“Nobody knows the issues in the community better than those who live here,” he said.
